Eat Your Veggies

So after a couple of weeks off, I decided to jump back on the 30 Day Shred bandwagon. I restarted with level 1 (following Natalie this time, not Miss Step-touch-step-touch Anita) and for some reason my back is now KILLING me. It didn’t feel like I pulled anything during the workout, but a few hours later the left side of my back started to feel really sore when I took a deep breath or reached down to pick anything up (like a Jack, for example). Push ups? Rows? I have no idea. Perhaps this is God telling me that I just shouldn’t work out. No?

The lentils are cooked with apple juice and ginger (hence the “sweet”). In a separate pan, you saute a bunch of veggies- bell pepper, squash, carrots, onion and tomatoes- and add soy sauce and rice wine vinegar and mix in the lentils. I topped mine with Crystal hot sauce. Delicious and filling.

Recipe #2: Cucumbers Vinaigrette.

This might not be a fair assessment because I could eat pickles for every meal and be a happy girl, but I loved this. It’s easy- just peeled cucumbers topped with a dressing of cider vinegar, dried mustard, sugar and salt. I had to stop myself from eating the whole batch in one sitting. Oh, and I let these marinate overnight.

Lunch + Dessert.

My baby is 6 MONTHS today. When did this happen?? Six months sounds so old. He’s thisclose to crawling, and tonight when I was attempting to give him pears & oatmeal, he refused to eat unless he could feed himself. Like grabbing the spoon out of my hand and shoving it into his mouth. Where did this come from?

He had his 6 month appt today with the pediatrician. He’s 16 lbs, 10 oz; 27 in long; and still representing with a noggin in the 90th percentile.

Such a happy guy.

The nurse came in to give him his immunizations. The first vaccine is given orally, but Jack clamped his little mouth shut and blew raspberries at her. She was cracking up trying to wedge the dropper into his mouth and told us that no baby had done that before. We’re so proud.

Dinner was recipe #3 from Moosewood: Spaghetti with Onions.

The dish is fast and easy, but I was basically sobbing in the kitchen after chopping 4 onions. The recipe is interesting because you parboil the pasta, drain it, and then finish cooking it in the sauce (onions, skim milk, fennel and crushed tomatoes). The idea is that some of the starch still clings to the pasta and serves to thicken the sauce without having to add cheese or cream.

Brian really liked the dish- I thought it was just okay. Greatly improved with salt and parmesan.

And a salad on the side… spinach, tomatoes, hearts of palm and chickpeas.

Thanks for all of the veggie meal ideas! It’s probably all in my head, but I feel like I’ve had more energy today. And this is definitely a coincidence, but I finally managed to squeeeeeze on my engagement ring again. It hasn’t fit since I was in my 2nd trimester. Hey, I’ll take motivation wherever I can get it